TODD, CAMRY GO BACK-TO-BACK WITH HOUSTON NHRA SPRING NATIONALS WIN

BAYTOWN, TX –J.R. Todd drove his DHL Toyota Camry to victory over Robert Hight in the Funny Car finals, 3.955-3.993, to win Sunday’s NHRA Spring Nationals in suburban Houston. The win is the second in a row for Todd and his fourth in the last 15 races. It also marks Kalitta Motorsports’ fourth in the season’s first five events.

Todd, who began the day from the tenth starting position, defeated Tommy Johnson, Jeff Diehl and Tim Wilkerson to set up the final round match-up with defending series champion Hight. The two left the line together, but Todd’s Camry surged ahead by the 330-foot mark and led the rest of the way.  With the win, he climbed up to third in the Funny Car championship race.

“I just want to keep riding the wave,” said Todd of the first back-to-back victories in his career. “I don’t think I’ve even been in back-to-back Funny Car final rounds before this. To come here and win, that just shows that winning the Four-Wide wasn’t a fluke and that we’re capable of winning races. I knew coming here that the track was going to be a factor and that could play into our hands. Our competitors got their stuff running well early, while we were struggling a bit, but I wasn’t doubting our DHL Toyota in the final by any means. I thought if I could leave on him, or even with him, that we could run with him and that if we just ran like we have been that we had a pretty good shot of winning.”

In addition to Todd, fellow Camry driver Del Worsham also advanced to the second-round after winning an all-Toyota match-up with Cruz Pedregon. Shawn Langdon’s day ended after he smoked the tires after overpowering the track in his first-round run.

Doug Kalitta was the top finishing Toyota Top Fuel driver, advancing to the second round with a win over teammate Richie Crampton before falling to eventual winner Brittany Force. Antron Brown lost in the first round after dropping a hole out early against Terry McMillen.

The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Charlotte, North Carolina, next weekend for the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, April 27-29, where Todd could become the first driver in NHRA history to win two four-wide events in the same season.

JR Todd’s thoughts on the win

Opening thoughts: “I just want to keep riding the wave. I don’t think I’ve even back final rounds before this. To come here and win, that just shows that winning the Four-Wide wasn’t a fluke and that we’re capable of winning races. The Four-Wide is a bit of a novelty, its just not your standard race. I knew coming here that the track was going to be a factor and that could play into our hands. When you got down to the asphalt today, it blew the tires off. I thought to myself ‘guys can’t just go out there and throw down’. Our competitors got their stuff running well early, while we were struggling a bit. I wasn’t doubting ourselves in the final by any means. I thought if I could leave on him or even with him that would could run with him and that if we just ran like we have been that we had a pretty good shot of winning. I thought they’d run a little better than they did, though.”

What does mean to be starting the season so strong? “It’s nice to have this much momentum early in the season. We really struggled early last year and really didn’t start to put things together around the Western Swing in July last year. We started to pick up momentum at Denver. It’s nice for Kalitta Motorsports as a whole to come out swinging like we are. Winning races definitely makes Connie (Kalitta) happy and it just keeps team morale up.”

Thoughts on moving up to third in the championship? “It’s nice to be moving up in the points the way we are. It seems like every year that I’ve been out here competing for the Countdown that I’m always around the cut line. It would be nice if we can keep this going and stay up there in the top five.”

How does it feel to win four times in the last 15 races?  “I’m just happy to get a win no matter what the number. We show up every week trying to win the race. We’ll take them anyway we can get them. Today was really just a matter of survival. I was just lucky enough to turn on four win lights again.”

How does it feel to be a part of the team’s best start in its history since 1959:  “To me, not including myself, I feel that we have the best drivers out here in Shawn (Langdon), Dougie (Kalitta) and Richie (Crampton) and they’re all my buddies. We can bounce information off each other and we always have each other’s back. We want to see each other do well. It’s awesome to work with a team like Kalitta Motorsports. All the crew chiefs work well together and that’s a key to our success this year, especially in Funny Cars. Shawn and I have the same driving styles and it’s helped our program a lot.”

Tell us about your qualifying struggles this weekend: “We couldn’t get our car to run well early because you really need to apply the power before you got down to the asphalt part of the racetrack because you knew it was going to spin the tires and there’s really nothing you can do about it. So we didn’t qualify as well as we wanted to, but we did go down the track clean in three out of four runs. We just missed it on Friday night and we’re getting to that point in the season where night runs are crucial just to get your qualifying spot. I feel the runs we made during the day in the heat helped us more for today.”

After 29 races since moving over from Top Fuel are you officially a Funny Car driver now? “I guess. My fire suit is dirty and my hands are dirty and I’m still driving it all over the place, so I’m trying to be a Funny Car driver.”

Is this early run surpassing your expectations? “For sure. I didn’t expect to have this much success early in the season. Looking back on last year, as bad as we were doing I was pretty hard on myself. I feel like I’m in a lot better position this year than I was last year.”